A couple new layouts to share

I made a couple of quick layouts this week with some of the new products I had bought at the scrapbook convention recently.

I love the colors in this first one...it might even inspire me to re-do my living room in these colors...lol. The burnt red cardstock and the white paper framing the photo (cut with the slice machine) are the only things that are not Theresa Collins. I had been wanting to get my hands on this line for a while now & when I found it at the convention I scooped up a whole bunch of it.

This picture is one I had been wanting to scrap for about a year now. My sister running the final stretch of the Boston marathon and my son running at her side for a short distance.My sister is an amazing inspiring person and I've enjoyed seeing her run many races...including this marathon. But this day had special meaning as she was running for team Parkinson in honor our Dad who had suffered with Parkinsons for years and also for her husband who had recently been diagnosed with the disease. An emotional day for all of us that I wanted to make sure to record in my scrapbooks.

Below is a closer shot showing how yummy these Theresa Collins papers, phrases & chipboard charms are. The title was also cut with my Slice. Have I mentioned lately how much I love this machine?

This next one was created with Crate Paper, Theresa Collins and my Slice machine.

I placed the patterned paper & my photo side by side as they would be on my layout and then used the Slice to cut a circle in them. I cut a scalloped circle out of the dark brown Crate paper (also with the Slice)and then mounted the Theresa Collins "remember this " cardstock circle on it, topped with the chipboard charm that says "the good stuff" and placed it in the center of the large cut circle. Loved how that came out....definitlely something I will do again sometime.

The color didn't come out too great on this photo....the patterned paper on the left of the photo is actually green....but looks more tan here. Probably because I photographed it indoors rather than outside in natural daylight. Ah well....

Off to print a few more photos and then to bed. Have a great night !!!

Happy Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day everyone. I hope you all had a great weekend. I know that Memorial Day is the beginning of summer & filled with cookouts & weekend getaways...but I hope everyone also remembered the real meaning of Memorial day today...a day to remember those who have lost their lives serving this country in our armed forces (and I personally think its a good day to give thanks for those who continue serve.)

On Mothers day my gorgeous girl left for Iraq on her first 6 month deployment.

Luckily she won't be in Iraq that whole time. She leaves there on Weds for 6 weeks in Italy, then a week in Germany and a week in France before returning to Iraq for the remainder of the 6 months. Having her in the Navy has helped me to remember what Memorial Day is really about. Keep your fingers crossed for me that she comes home safely in November.

I had a really long list of things to get done this weekend and it was gorgeous weather for 3 full days....in the upper 70's to low 80's with no humidity....perfect for yard work. I worked really hard on Saturday all day...took Sunday off to go for a bike ride & get the grocery shopping done & then finished up some things today till about noon and then we had company come over for a cook out & then Jake's game. So I've update my to-do list....

Doesn't it feel so good to be able to check things off of a list.....my lists never end but it still feels good to make them smaller...

- re-edge & mulch 2 gardens - Done

- finish washing the deck

- finish fencing in the vegetable garden - Done

- finish planting annuals in the pots on the deck - Done

- mow & weed whack lawn - Done (except for the very far back grove area...still need to get to that)

-wash the Jeep

- take hard top off the Jeep & put the soft top on (if I can find someone to help me lift it)

- 2 baseball games - Done (one was rescheduled)

- grocery shopping - Done

- laundry - Done

-bike ride - Done

- hiking Done

I'm off to bed soon but wanted to leave you with a funny picture I took in Disney.....I love this photo these 2 flamingo's each standing on 1 leg with their head tucked in ...too funny.

photo share

ok...so I may never stop doing so many pages of him if I cant stop photographing him. He was such a good boy today hanging out with me while I did all my yard & garden work. I got so much accomplished today that tomorrow I'm going to spread the last of the mulch & then spend the afternoon going for a bike ride.

I took a few photos of some of my favorite plants that are in bloom right now. This lamium will always make me think of my Mom since we both bought one last summer when we went to White Flower Farms in Ct. I saw hers last week when I visited her...and sorry Mom but mine is about twice as big. It must be very happy where I planted it. Isn't it a great looking plant? Love the variegated leaves.

This is one of my favorite Hostas (June) I love the color variations in the leaves...gorgeous !!

This pretty woodland flower is a columbine....this is the first year it really bloomed well so I was happy to see these lovely flowers arrive this year.

Jake picked out these petunias for the deck. Love them !!!

And saving the best for last....my favorite flower in all of my gardens is in full bloom today with more gorgeous flowers than ever. I never used to like Iris' but I adore them now. Any wonder why....so beautiful !!! I think I may frame this photo so I can enjoy it all year.

That's all for tonight. I am soooooo tired after 8 hours of working outside today. I'm off to bed. Have a great weekend everyone.

Down & dirty

hah...my ex used to say that...but I can't remember exactly why. I think maybe playing poker with the guys.

No poker being played here though...what I was referring to was me....down in the garden getting dirty. The only time I like getting grubby. I love gardening...love the sense of accomplishment when things begin to grow and transform, love the way working in the yard relaxes me, love the solitude & quiet of working on my own out there...just me, my thoughts & plenty of fresh air.

Tonight I was able to get a couple of things scratched of my long list of things to try to get done over the long weekend. The vegetable garden & blueberry bushes are all planted & the fence posts are in place. The garden at the end of my driveway that was covered in dirt & rocks when the telephone pole was replaced last winter has been repaired/replanted/re-edged & mulched. and all the gardens are watered (which reminds me one of the gardens still has a sprinkler turned on...need to go shut that off) My cell phone also got watered too since I had it on the deck railing where the sprinkler was soaking it for a good half hour. May need to buy a new one tomorrow if it doesn't dry out enough to work by then.

So now my list to work on for the weekend looks like this...wish me luck !!!

- re-edge & mulch 2 gardens
- finish washing the deck
- finish fencing in the vegetable garden
- finish planting annuals in the pots on the deck
- mow & weed whack lawn
-wash the Jeep
- take hard top off the Jeep & put the soft top on (if I can find someone to help me lift it)
- 2 baseball games
- grocery shopping
- laundry
-bike ride
- hiking

hmmm...wonder if I can even get half of this done...

I know I promised....

...to do a layout of something other than my dog. And I know I really need to get some of those vacation photos scrapped. But seriously....look at this sweet face. Is it any wonder this dog inspires so many pages. He's so fun to photograph & just as fun to scrapbook.

I went to the CK scrapbook convention last week and bought 2 of the Crate Paper lines I had been wanting for so long and this layout is almost 100 % Crate Paper. The chipboard title & the stamping are the only part of the layout that aren't.

And do you recognize the handwriting in the "little everyday moments" ? That was a stamp from one of the new Technique Tuesday stamp sets I bought at the convention designed by Ali Edwards. I love Technique Tuesday stamps...I have probably invested more than $1000 dollars in them over the years & I was glad to add a few of the sets designed by Ali to my collection. Below is a closer look at how great this Crate Paper line is.

I'd promise again to do something other than a Tanner layout next time...but apparently I can't be trusted to keep my promises...lol. Have a good night everyone.

Disney Part 3 - Magic Kingdom

We spent 2 days in the Magic Kingdom and still didn't see all the things we didn't want to miss. Its funny...when you get hot & tired the things you thought you just had to see don't quite seem as important as they did before. So the 2 days we went there we ended up leaving around 2-3pm & spending the rest of our afternoon in the pool at our hotel.

We took the usual photo that I think everyone must take when visiting this park. You just have to have a picture of the castle right?

Personally I hate having pictures with people I don't know in them so I'm always looking for ways to get a photo without having a bunch of total strangers in it.

Nope...no tourists up there...lol
Our favorite ride here was the Buzz Lightyear one. This was such a blast that we just kept getting back in line & doing it over & over again as there was no line. I love the colors in the photo below that I took inside. Jake wants me to enlarge it for his room.
Jake had fun driving the cars around the track. For me, as his passenger it was a preview of him learning to drive a real car in a few years...eeek !!! And a trip to the Magic Kingdom wouldn't be complete without a ride on the jungle cruise.Jake really got into the pin trading at Disney. He decided on day 2 to buy 2 pins & a lanyard to attach them to and just have fun trading those with the staff members. (you can trade your pins with people working there if you see one they have that you want...Disney found a great money maker with that idea !!) 2 hours later Jake had 8 pins and he had so much fun hunting to people with pins to look at & trade with.

By the time we came home he had 2 lanyards full of more than 30 pins (can you say obsessed?)Luckily he was spending his own spending money on them & not mine.
He made some other friends along the way too... We were able to ride in the front of the monorail twice and the view was great. Jake loved this as you can see from the smile on his face.


We were also lucky to be able to see & have dinner with my cousin Jim & his lovely family. I love these people so much and don't see them nearly often enough so this night was such a treat for me. (and thanks for the recipe Val...we had it for dinner tonight...yum!)

DIsney Part 2 - The hats of Disney

No one could ever say my boy is not a good sport. With all the different hats in all of the parks in Disney I wonder if we're the only family that had this much fun photographing them. There are a lot of photos here, but these are just some of them.

Goofy? Pluto? Jester?

Princess mouse ears...lol

too funny !!!

Yah man...we be jammin....

Pirate Pluto. (the expression on his face in this one is priceless)

Pirate mouse ears...

Argggghhhh......

Vrooooom....

We have lift off....

somehow the sunglasses with the flags of Norway on the lens just don't go with this hat...

I don't even know what to put for a caption for this one .....except....hahahahahaha !!!!!!

This one is a little blurry....but my boy makes a pretty handsome cowboy doesn't he?

tee hee !!!

This has to be one of the funniest ones don't you think?

And yes.....these definitely will end up on a scrapbook page one day soon.....

More doggie layouts to share...

I'm so glad baseball season has begun, the gardens are almost ready to bloom and I have 400 vacation photos to play with. Because I seem to be in a bit of a rut in doing all my pages of Tanner lately. You'll have to admit though...he is totally cute & a great photo subject. I did these pages a while ago but am just now getting around to sharing them.

This series of photos just makes me smile. Especially the last one where he looks like he has a clown nose with the ball caught in mid air right in front of him. I love this patterned paper from Basic Grey's Marrakesh line. It fit the title of the layout perfectly I thought.


This is my favorite photo of him. Its sits on my desk for me to look at every day at work but I also wanted to create a page with it. And really there is no more perfect title for this page than "Unconditional love"

The "unconditional" part of the title & the 2 hearts on the right side of the photo were cut with my Slice. The patterned paper is basic grey & the die cut papers are from K & Co.

Chef Jake does it again....

I came home from work tonight tired and just wanting to relax....But I also wanted to get out & begin digging up grass so I can get my veggie garden planted this weekend. I asked Jake " do you mind if we just have a bowl of cereal for dinner tonight so I don't have to cook?"

But my boy had other plans. He had been watching Challenge on the cooking channel...one of his favorite shows....and he was inspired to create a dish all his own. So while I dug in the dirt he got to work and made this yummy dish for dinner.

Pasta tossed with a olive oil that he had added a bit of fresh rosemary, dried basil, and crushed red pepper flakes to. Topped with fresh mozzarella...broiled till melted . And then topped with steak cutlets he had breaded with a new french onion coating mix I had purchased. Sauteed till done in a bit of olive oil (we use olive oil rather than canola or vegetable oil for everything except baking)

I've said it before but it bears repeating....this boy is going to make someone very happy one day with his love of cooking. And boy can this kid cook. Thanks Jake for a delicious dinner & for saving me from cooking. Love you sweetie !!!

Disney - Part 1

So I finished sorting my Disney photos into folders by where we stayed & the parks we enjoyed. And now that I have them in order I thought I'd share some of my favorites with you.

As I mentioned the other night we stayed here at Coronado Springs. Amazingly this beautiful hotel is one of Disney's lower priced resorts. It is huge with well over 1000 rooms that are placed all the way around the small lake it is located on. We really enjoyed our stay here so much.

The water on the lake was so calm that the resulting reflections just begged to be photographed...and I of course was happy to oblige.

again, and again...

This is the lobby of the resort....so pretty

And then there were the fountains in all the courtyards between the buildings....

This was without a doubt the prettiest hotel I have ever stayed in.

The pool was beautiful as well. These were taken at the large pool. There are also 3 smaller pools on the property. Bigger than my home...but they call them the small pools...lol

And Jake & I spent a lot of time in between parks & dinner reservations playing & cooling off in them. For us the weather in Florida felt sooo hot since we're used to much cooler weather here in New England.

Thankfully we weren't swimming in the lake since there were a few critters in there I wouldn't want to swim with. Like this little alligator....

And these 2 large turtles....

Then there were the critters that were a little too friendly. Like this guy. Thats part of my bagel in his mouth. This was the only time we ate at the lakeside tables...the birds were a little too agressive for my taste. It was a bit like the movie "the birds" with all the birds swooping down on us & almost flying right into us. Want to know someting else freaky about this photo? See that guy to the left of the bird? He looks exactly like my ex husband used to look back when we were married 16 years ago. Now he just looks old...but that person in the photo could have been his twin back then. I zoomed in on the picture & it still looked exactly like him...freaky !!!

Off to bed...I'm beat. I'll share a few photos from the different parks soon.